The Ultimate Personal Responsibility
Matt. 16:13-15 … (Jesus asks) His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
With our government taking more and more control over our lives, we live in a time when it is getting easier to abdicate our responsibilities, welfare, and, indeed, our very future to Big Brother or others who “know better.” Today, it is fashionable to blame someone else for our problems, actions, and circumstances. It’s too easy to expect someone else to bail us out of messes we have gotten ourselves into.
The idea of personal responsibility seems to be a thing of the past, an archaic notion promoted by our Founding Fathers but made increasingly obsolete today by a more “enlightened” view of “collective” responsibility. But, the Bible speaks of an ultimate personal responsibility that even the Federal Government cannot absolve us of. What is it? It’s a question Jesus asked his disciples and one he asks each of us individually – “But who do you say that I am?” It does NOT matter how anyone else answers that question – not the Federal Government, your employer, your parents, not even the most powerful man in the world.
You alone are accountable for your answer. If you answer like Simon Peter did – “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16) – and then act of that answer by placing your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord, you have fulfilled the ultimate personal responsibility this life has to offer!
Posted by David Morris
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